This June 5, 2017, file photo shows a marijuana leaf in the vegetative room at a cannabis cultivator in Fairbanks, Alaska. As Canadian marijuana growers rush to boost production before pot gets legalized, Quebec’s biggest cannabis company is looking toward a convenience-store giant for a road map to success.

Sandrine Rastello, Bloomberg • March 13, 2018 1:43 pm

As Canadian marijuana growers rush to boost production before pot gets legalized, Quebec’s biggest cannabis company looks to a convenience-store giant for a road map.

The Hydropothecary Corp. says it wants to follow the footsteps of Quebec leaders such as Couche-Tard, owner of the Circle K chain, which started with one store outside Montreal and gobbled up rivals from Ontario to Norway. Hydropothecary secured about a third of its home market last month, when it signed a letter of intent with the province’s alcohol distributor to supply 44,092 pounds (20,000 kilograms) of cannabis products in the first year of recreational sales.

“I plan to be one of the two to three multinational companies still standing in five years,” founder and Chief Executive Officer Sebastien St. Louis, 34, said in a phone interview last week. “Our strategy is to go to Quebec first, then expand to Ontario, then to Western Canada, and then internationally.”